


Technique

by simply_aly



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-24
Updated: 2013-03-24
Packaged: 2017-12-06 07:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/732894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simply_aly/pseuds/simply_aly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because, sometimes, it's just easier to lie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Technique

When Caroline first meets Stefan, she’s determined to have him. He’s that mysterious new guy she’s seen on television since she was old enough to really pay attention to teen dramas and soap operas and reality television shows. He’s the talk of the town, and Caroline wants them to talk about her with him.  
  
But Stefan wants Elena, and he as much as tells her so. “You and me—it’s not gonna happen.”  
  
She smiles and he walks off to Elena, and Caroline watches from a distance.  
  
Later, once his relationship with Elena is firmly established, he’ll ask if they can be friends and she smiles and nods. “Yes, of course” she says. “That’s all I ever wanted, anyway.”  
  
She agrees because it’s the closest she’ll ever come with him and she knows it…but it was never just friends that she wanted to be with him and she knows it.  
  
-x-  
  
She falls for Damon. If she can’t have the Salvatore she really wants, she’ll settle for the one she can get. But being with Damon isn’t always picture perfect like they portray for the town. He gets angry and he’s mean, and there are things she knows about him that she cannot speak of.  
  
Stefan catches her alone one night after Damon’s yelled at her about that ugly crystal again.  
  
“Are you alright? Is something wrong?” he asks, the concern evident in his voice. His hand is on her back, pressing gently in a soothing pattern.  
  
Caroline takes a deep breath and smiles and nods. “I’m fine,” she insists. “Everything’s alright.”  
  
But she’s not fine, and everything’s not alright, and all she really wants to do is cry, but she can’t—not around him.  
  
-x-  
  
Life goes on and Damon leaves her and then there’s Matt. She loves Matt, but she’s always jealous of how easy Elena’s relationship with Stefan seems. Yes, they fight; but they’re always back together within the week. Matt, on the other hand, is still hung up on Elena, and that’s something Caroline doesn’t think she can fix.  
  
They’re double dating with Stefan and Elena, and Elena’s in the bathroom and Matt’s ordering drinks at the bar.  
  
Stefan asks if she’s happy—if Matt is what she wants.  
  
And Caroline looks at him and wants to tell him that no, Matt isn’t what she wants—that it was always him—but she can’t because Elena’s coming back and she’s happy with Stefan. So Caroline smiles and nods. “Of course,” she says. “I love Matt.”  
  
And a part of her does love Matt, but a part of her also loves Damon despite what he did to her, and a bigger part really loves Stefan also, and what is she supposed to do about that?  
  
-x-  
  
Katherine comes to town and turns Caroline into a vampire and she kills someone.  
  
It’s Stefan who cleans the blood off her face while she cries. And Caroline relishes in the closeness as he holds her close and tells her things will be alright. And, for the first time, Caroline recognizes the reassuring smile and nod on his face when he talks to her.  
  
She just continues to cry until she believes his lie because there is no other option.  
  
-x-  
  
One night, she’s tortured and it’s Stefan, again, who rescues her—or, at least, that’s the version of events that sticks in her mind…the rest of the players don’t matter in her head, just him.  
  
He takes her home and he asks her if she’s going to be alright.  
  
She smiles and nods. “I’m fine, Stefan,” she says. “I’m not girly little Caroline anymore.”  
  
But he must have caught on to her technique, for he brings Bonnie and Elena over. She wonders, then, if he can remember what all she’s lied about before.


End file.
